"Better than a movie!" Djaul Island Building Project

"Are you afraid?" I asked my foreman Norm. Sheepishly he admitted, "Yeah a little." Most of my crew are from the mountains and have spent very little time on or even near the ocean.

I secretly wondered if the heavy rainstorm could actually capsize one of our seemingly overloaded boats. It looked to be completely blocking our course, but our drivers seemed concerned yet confidently driving straight at the edge of it. The hope was that it would slide to our left, but a second storm was showing up to our right and looking to  merge with the bigger storm. 

It had taken so much work to get to this point. The fruits of many months of planning were in 6 dinghies, 23ft long, with 40 horsepower Evinrude engines on each one. Each boat was trying to navigate the open ocean on their own, even though we were together. We did end up getting wet, but squeezed through the weakest point in the storm.  That's how we started this 3.5-week village build on Djaul Island, way off the coast of the Papua New Guinea mainland but only 2-3 hours from Kavieng, in New Ireland.

Transferring everything from the trucks to the boats before the final leg.

The storm looked ominous when we left, even to the boat captains, it seemed.

 

The biggest challenge to building a classroom/Bible translation building is the preparation and getting materials to the worksite. Lumber was cut and milled locally many months before. The villagers selected only Taun wood and Kwila wood for the project. Both are really nice hardwoods, with Kwila having more weather resistant oils. It was great for the foundation work, veranda, and stairs. Almost all the hardware was purchased and sent by us on a huge ship just a month before. The 20-ft. container was packed with hardware and materials, some of which will also be used on a future building project on the same island in 2024. 

I was so encouraged by the people on Djaul Island! They were a great example of what a united community looks like. They were so friendly and helpful to us at every turn. They took care of our every need and fed us really well! They are strong believers and are excited to work hard on translating the Bible into their own language. I know they will make fast progress based on what I see in their translation team. 

We left the office mostly complete but still lacking some interior work and all the solar equipment, which was delayed out of Australia. It will be finished when we go out again in April 2024. 

The village of Piliwa, where we built, is on Djaul Island and sits in this gorgeous cove.

These adorable kids were covered with sand from playing at the beach, but also wanted to help with delivering the supplies.

Good progress for day 3! 

Joe and I lay out the trusses.

Larry Kraus joined us for the middle of the project and was a big help building trusses and being a cut man for the guys. 

It was common for an audience to congregate everyday.

I asked one guy if it was like watching a movie and he said, "It's better than a movie!"

Celebrating on the day of the building dedication.

Field trip!! These kids came from a neighboring village with their teacher just to see the village.

Chocolate chip starfish arranged by me and then put back in the water.
This island had the most beautiful reefs and sea life! 

One of the few places I could get a cell signal from the "mainland".
It took a 15 min hike to get there to call Laura. Awful spot, right?

Typical breakfast just like at home: Donuts with fish over potatoes!

"Puka" crash-landed on our jobsite and is now a family pet here in the Highlands. This guy caught it and gave it to me as a gift. It is a baby Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon. "Puka" means "fell down" in the local language. 

Pastor Solomon and Alois were such a huge help!

Jessie and Rebekah did a great job planning this project.

The Papuan Hornbill (Blyth's) is known locally as a Kokomo. It is a super-friendly and amusing bird.
This really didn't hurt.  He feels with his beak.

The first kids I saw in Piliwa. I love their smiles.

I even got to do some fishing with hand lines! They call these Skipjack Tuna.

Yeah, we were all exhausted!

Andrew Good was the mastermind behind all our electrical and plumbing.
He also fixed everything that broke and planed 1,000's of linear feet of lumber.
 Here we are heading home - the best feeling in the world!

Jessie and Rebekah live in a very remote place but it is as beautiful as it is remote!

Toby was gifted a puppy, which was welcomed by this giant Doberman on a stopover at our regional center in Kavieng. 

Videos You May Have Missed...and What About Snapshot Sundays?!

It has been a long time since we created a new blog post or Snapshot Sunday, but there are lots of other ways to keep up with what is going on with our ministry in Papua New Guinea! We send out regular newsletters filled with photos and we also make a video from time to time. 

Click on our Newsletters or Videos pages above to see those!

Here are our 3 latest videos!

Partnering with TeachBeyond

Your Questions Answered (Video Newsletter 2021)

Matt's Building Trip in Ubuo

Was Temple Grandin Right? A Cow Saga

What does wrangling 168 cows and trucking them across the country and building new structures based on Temple Grandin designs have to do with missionary work? Have you seen the movie Temple Grandin? I have to be careful here, because she has not signed off on or seen anything we have done.  However it is some of her proven methods that we are trying to incorporate. The idea is to calm the cows down and move them through quicker with less stress.

At first glance it makes very little sense. It seems like it would be a distraction from Bible translation. I had these same thoughts. Our missionary center now has 240 head of cattle! It all started at the beginning of our land lease more than 60 years ago. As part of our lease, we're required to do agricultural work in our valley. I can't be sure of this, as I have not read (or even wanted to read) the details of the lease. But what this has allowed us to do is to provide food for our members and staff, and to sell mature cows commercially. Additional income helps us with our core needs. Twenty of these cows are milking cows, so we get fresh milk and yogurt!

Cowboy work and tending cattle is not my work - we have a great team for that. Recently, however, we have needed some new infrastructure. That is my work. Whatever needs to be built, my team can do it!

 

We finally ran our first gaggle of 180 cows through our newly completed corral this week! Tagging new cows, recording them, and separating them out. It would normally take a day and a half but the cattle team did it in just 3 hrs! It wasn't without hiccups as these cows are rather wild. We are totally done yet but almost. Enjoy the Pics!

The entrance to our mission's farm.

One of our milking cows. In an effort to beef😜up our cattle program we recently purchased nearly 170 cows from 3 hrs away. While this was a huge change, it was needed to make our program successful.

Markam cows waiting to be transported.

We worked with these cattle wranglers from Tablebirds, in the always-gorgeous Markam Valley, to get 168 new cows.

These Markam Valley cows were fairly wild.

Cows were moved for days with at least 5 different trucks making multiple, full-day trips.

Our Pasture

The cows were moved from 3-4 hrs away.

Our current squeeze and corral is getting an extreme makeover!

Toby working cement for a large watering area.

The worst cement finish we have ever done, intentionally grooved to prevent slippage.

The completed trough, ready for action!

We are still working on the new cattle corral with curving walls based on Temple Grandin's designs. Dr. Grandin is a prominent author and speaker on both autism and animal behavior. She impressively designed corrals that calmed cattle down and made running them through chutes and squeezes much easier. We have yet to finish it, but soon we'll test it out.  Our carpenters and the cowboys are super-excited to see it all in action! Stay tuned!

We have finally completed it and run 180 cows through it! It works! It calms the cows down and helps the whole process. Of course there are some things that we needs to improve, but it a great start!